Archive for April, 2013

When we discovered the lineup of Les femmes s’en mêlent festival, a part from a few bands that we already knew, we were particularly intrigued by one voice : Molly Gene One Whoaman Band. A little video found online sparked our interest and we wanted to see that with our own eyes and especially listen to it with ears wide-open.

We arrive a bit late to the show, Molly Gene is already performing but somehow we manage to dig our way towards the stage. First thought – the sound is fkn powerful! Once we have our ear protection in place, we realize that this lady is rocking her boots out on some kind of foot drums (a kind of weird and magical artifact that allows you to play all parts of a drum-set with only your feet).
Now, we always think that you must have balls to entertain an audience all by yourself and Molly Gene is certainly a ballsy woman. On top of that she’s got great charisma and her voice travels around, screams, goes back to blues et then back to almost hard-rock. Even though the music and the rhythm stay pretty constant, we don’t get bored, not even for a second. Little breaks are fun too as she jokes around with us and explain her next songs. This lady is a real character and it’s almost impossible to resist her charm. Her honesty pays off as the audience goes crazy and even us, we are not immune. Dear Molly, if you read this, we would be honored to have a chat with you next time you’re in Paris perhaps around a few glasses of wine ;)

Molly Gene (Divan du Monde – Paris – 03.27.2013)

After this great show, the atmosphere changes with Teen who is gonna try to captivate us with its psychedelic pop. They’re young, american and good looking but not necessarily some kind of hipster trap. They’re good and, even though it’s hard not to compare them with Warpaint, Teen is slightly more psychedelic and tries to stay away for the « singles » format. The songs are long and some power climaxes makes us shiver a bit (and yeah, it’s a good thing!). Our only critique is that the show is a bit close as the four musicians seem to play more for them than for the audience. Lizzie (keys) and Katherine (drums) keep the same facial expression for 45 minutes, while Teeny (guitar/voice) and Jane (bass) manage to share a bit more with the public. It’s a detail, but this tiny barrier doesn’t allow us to get fully in the trip.

Teen (Divan du Monde – Paris – 03.27.2013)

We don’t know the biggest name of the line-up tonight, Talk Normal. We think it’s great that this festival promotes original and experimental bands with no snobbery. However this main act just doesn’t work for us. We listened to the studio versions of Andrya and Sarah’s songs and it wasn’t half bad. However their live show is kind of different and somehow problematic. Their songs just don’t seem to take off nor looking for anything in particular. The singing is not bad but we could do without… It’s like if it was a bad feminine version of Swans who struggle to find a direction. It’s experimental, but not much. It’s melodic, but not enough. Sorry, we don’t want to sound like assholes. We are just trying to be honest and, very honestly, we had to leave the room after half an hour and judging from the audience, we were not the only ones slightly put off by this band…

Talk Normal (Divan du Monde – Paris – 03.27.2013)

Sometimes I just can’t believe how much I hate computers. Let’s take an easy example: a dead hard drive. Probably happened to you before, right? The story is that two years ago we discovered Mesparrow as an opening act for the amazing Cascadeur. Alone on stage, a raw music based on vocal loops and a true personality. We were charmed and even filmed her for an interview that night. You never saw it and you probably never will. All thanks to a dead hard drive. RIP.

In light of that we obviously couldn’t wait to see her again, especially now that we finally heard her first record (pretty good btw). The music festival Les femmes s’en mêlent made our wish come true with a lovely night focused on female singers held in a very pleasant venue (Le Divan du Monde). Still, the night started really, really, really (x 100) bad with Perrine en Morceaux. In all honesty, I really don’t understand that kind of (so called) “musical” project : meaningless video projections, bad beats, “voice noises” (yeah, we can’t really call that “singing”!) drowned in a sauce of cheap effects. It felt like watching one of those artsy/elitist tv channel late at night. By the way, was it me or the audience didn’t even applaud between songs ? Eh well, farewell my friend.

Thank god (or whoever is involved), Peauwere next on the list and brought hope back. Playing a brand of nice and dreamy pop music, the band, and especially their singer, looked a bit shy at first. Explanations came a bit later during the show – it was one of their first public performance ! That’s when I stopped doubting and started respecting them. Singing and whispering in French, the Peau’ singer – Perrine - shared with us her little stories and hassles. It was a real cozy and intimate show, just as we like it. The band looked pretty happy to be there and started to gain confidence in the stage little by little. The last songs allowed us to hear what Perrine can create with her voice when she pushes it, and it was great! Guys, keep on the good work and be more confident – you got something special going on!

Peau (Divan du Monde – Paris – 03.25.2013)

But the one artist that everybody is waiting for tonight is of course Mesparrow. Now supported by a well received first record, we must admit that the studio rendition of a few songs we knew sounded a bit frustrating. At first glimpse, we didn’t hear the magic that seduced us the first time. That’s why we wanted to check that live. And guess what ? The answer is “yes, she still got it”! Surrounded by a few charming elements on stage and very strong lights (sorry for the shitty pictures below), she entered the stage enveloped just like some kind of religious icon. Loops slowly started and magic became true. Mesparrow kept on developing her character and exploring her universe. Her new songs definitely reach another level of magnificence when played live.

During the one hour show we slowly move from a childlike universe (well, more a tweener one actually) with “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up” to an almost lyrical singing on “The Symphony”. I shall not forget to mention the brilliant cover of “Stand By Me” and a crazy rendition of “My Heart Belongs To Daddy“. Such a rich variety of universes made the concert really interesting and we were captivated until the end of the show. Mesparrow really succeeded in transposing her own world on a stage while combining a weird mix of influences (did you hear the mambo vibe?). Can’t wait for what’s coming next !

Mesparrow (Divan du Monde – Paris – 03.25.2013)

Almost two years ago, we enjoyed an amazing event in Paris: the Tattoo Art Fest. I don’t exactly know what happened to that one, but some true believers decided to launch the same kind of initiative, Mondial du tatouage, once again in Paris. Among the organizers was the most famous French tattoo artist: Tin-Tin. It took us about five seconds to decide: hell yes!! Let’s go check out some outrageous tattoos!

First, let me point out that when you attend this kind of event it means that:
a) If your skin is still virgin, you will feel a desperate need to get some ink!
b) If you already have some ink, you will feel a super-extra-desperate need to get some more!

Once there, it’s really hard not to be astounded by the quantity of artists coming from every corner of the world. Some are celebrities – like Paul Booth – some are new names in the tattoo world but what is sure is that every possible style is represented! This is the kind of place where you can find everything from retro tattoos, girly ones, Japanese, gothic, ugly cats – trust me, absolutely everything! It’s even possible to get inked old-school style by two guys at the same time (maximum levels of pain guaranteed!). Tickets were definitely not cheap, but the event was pretty unique and the venue really excellent!

I have to admit that I don’t completely get how people can stand to be tattooed in such a place, with zero privacy and a bunch of strangers taking pictures of your private parts! I mean, this is typically the kind of moment in which you look at your worst – sweating to endure the pain, tears coming down your face and desperately trying to think of something else so that you don’t look like a wimp. Luckily not everybody shares this opinion and there was plenty of people getting their ink done and very happy to be looked at while doing so!

We were lucky to be there on Friday morning, when it was not yet crowded and when you could hear the lovely buzzing of needles already filling the entire space. All in all, a lot of fun and the perfect opportunity to take some crazy pictures of some crazy people.Enjoy our captions and hope to see you there next year!

By the way, here is a small list of tattoo artists we got to see in action and who completely blew our minds: